On this blog, we will discuss various aspects of the electoral college system - both the negative - and the positive aspects of the system. If you would like to find out more details on how the system works, my sons and I have written a small booklet about the subject. Its on our web site - http://www.thepoweroftheinternet.com

Sunday, November 4, 2007

November 2008 is coming up fast and with it a new presidential election. A big question that comes up is can a third party candidate win?

The U.S. presidential election actually consists of 51 separate elections, one in each state plus one in the District of Columbia. (for the sake of simplicity we will refer to the District of Columbia as a state). Forty nine of these states follow the “Winner Take All” system, two do not. Any presidential candidate acquiring a plurality of the popular votes within each of these 49 states, wins ALL of that state’s electoral votes. That means that even if a candidate acquires 49 percent of the votes in a state, he will get NONE of that states electoral votes.

Therefore, there are 49 states where the losing candidates are not entitled to ANY electoral votes! - no matter how close the election was in that state. Therefore, third party candidates etc, that may get lots of votes, but not enough to win the state, get no credit for any of the votes they got within the state.

In New York state Mayor Bloomberg is talking about investing one billion dollars to set up an independent political party. In order for any political party to be effective it must win a majority of the presidential electoral votes. Should it not win a majority of the electoral votes, its efforts would have been in vain.

The probability of an independent third party winning a presidential election seems fairly far fetched. Believe it or not, the “Winner Take All” system was intentionally instituted by our “founding fathers” in order to maintain a two party system.

Saturday, November 3, 2007

In 2008 the electoral voting system will be used to elect the president of the U.S. The popular vote will not be used.

The number of electoral votes allocated to each state is based on the number of residents in the state. The presidential candidate acquiring a majority (270 or more) of the electoral votes, wins the election.

Factors affecting the number the number of electoral votes allocated to each state in the 2008 election: The number of residents counted in each state in the 2000 census.

Factors having no effect on the number of electoral votes allocated to a state in the 2008 election: The number of eligible voters in 2000 or 2008. The number of actual voters in 2000 or 2008 Party affiliation. Whether the residents counted in the 2000 census were alive or dead at the time of the 2008 election

Note: Under the electoral voting system, the census affecting the presidential vote can be ten years behind the presidential election.

Factors that would affect the popular voting system if the popular voting system was in effect in 2008: The number of actual voters in the 2008 election

Factors that would not affect the popular voting system if the popular voting system was in effect in 2008: The number of eligible voters. The number of residents listed in any census (alive or dead)

Sunday, May 20, 2007

It is an interesting question - did it pay to vote - if your vote was for the losing candidate?

In the US presidential election, the number of electoral votes acquired by the winning candidates in each state are forwarded to Washington D.C. - where they are compiled and the total number of electoral votes won by each candidate is determined.

Losing candidates in these 49 states are not entitled to any electoral votes.

Since all of the states electoral votes are forwarded to Washington D.C. as having been won by the winning candidate, the losing candidate’s votes have in effect been transformed into votes for the winning candidate.

Should a voter favor pulling troops out of Iraq and voted for a likeminded presidential candidate who lost to a candidate favoring keeping troops in Iraq, the voter’s vote in effect would be transmitted as a vote for keeping troops in Iraq. Should a voter oppose gun control and voted for a presidential candidate who also opposed gun control but lost to a presidential candidate favoring gun control, his vote would be transmitted as a vote favoring gun control.

In most popular elections - your vote might count at least in determing how close the election was. Because of the electoral voting system in use for Presidential elections, your vote for the losing candidate effectively became a vote for the winning candidate.

About 50% of eligible voters do not vote. This does not reduce the amount of electoral votes transmitted to Washington D.C. In effect this means that non votes are transferred to Washington D.C. as votes for the winning candidate.

The total number of electoral votes transmitted to Washington (538) remains the same regardless of the number of votes cast by U.S. voters.

So - if there is a third party candidate - can he/she win? We will discuss this in our next post.

November 2008 is coming up fast and with it a new presidential election.

In honor of this occasion we have decided to start a blog to discuss and analyze one of the most unique aspects of our presidential voting system, the Winner Take All section.

The results of this analysis will surprise 95% of the voting public.

Today - we will start with the "Winner Take All" aspect of the electoral voting system.

The U.S. presidential election actually consists of 51 separate elections, one in each state plus one in the District of Columbia. (for the sake of simplicity we will refer to the District of Columbia as a state). Forty nine of these states follow the "Winner Take All" system, two do not.

Any presidential candidate acquiring a plurality of the popular votes within each of these 49 states, wins ALL of that state’s electoral votes.

The number of electoral votes acquired by the winning candidates in each state are forwarded To Washington D.C. where they are compiled and the total number of electoral votes won by each candidate is determined.

Losing candidates in these 49 states are not entitled to any electoral votes.

On our next blog post, we will discuss what happens to those votes cast for the losing candidate.Were they wasted? Did it pay to vote?